Mission Mohabbat by H Hoor

About this novel

Mission Mohabbat (Urdu: مشن محبت) by H Hoor is a long Urdu romance about two sisters paying the price of their parents’ love marriage. Durriya and Nagina grow up in a struggling household, and the story follows what love brings to each of them.

The novel opens with a small but telling moment. “Chhoti, I’ll get some money soon – my shoe is broken, I’ll get it repaired,” Nagina tells her younger sister, who is buried in her books. Durriya answers sweetly: “Meri jaan, please be patient for a day, I’ll bring you new shoes – I’m getting my tuition fee tomorrow.” When Nagina tries to argue, Durriya playfully warns that if she ever says something like that again, she’ll be upset with her, and Nagina leaves smiling.

Then the writer tells the family’s story. Durriya’s mother, Farhana, was a beautiful, well-mannered girl from a well-to-do family who fell in love with Kashif, a bus driver she met on her way back from college. Kashif’s small income ran his home; besides his elderly mother, he had two brothers who lived separately after marriage, and a sister who died young. When Kashif went respectfully to ask for Farhana’s hand, her mother refused outright. Farhana was beautiful and good-natured, so good proposals were already coming – but her heart was set on Kashif, and despite all her crying, her family didn’t agree.

ماں باپ کی محبت کی شادی، اور اس کی قیمت چکاتی دو بیٹیاں۔

Finally Kashif suggested they run away. Farhana refused at first, but as time passed her “no” changed, and one night he took her from Karachi to Lahore where they married. Two months later they decided to return, but Kashif insisted she stay behind where she was safe, because her brothers would not spare him. On the way back he had a terrible accident and lost the use of his legs. When Farhana learned of it, her world fell apart. With treatment incomplete and savings gone, she began working hard in other people’s homes, even making rotis at a tandoor, while Kashif was confined to his bed.

H Hoor sets up a story of poverty, sacrifice and family pride, and the title promises that Durriya’s own “mission” of love is coming.

You can read Mission Mohabbat online here or download the complete PDF for free. More by H Hoor: Jani Dushman, Tera Deewana and Sar E Raah Chalte Chalte, or see all H Hoor novels.